THESE BROKEN STARS
co-author Amie Kaufman and STORMDANCER author Jay Kristoff's ILLUMINAE,
to Melanie Cecka at Knopf Children's, in a major deal, in a pre-empt, in
a three book deal. Told through a dossier of hacked documents –
including emails, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews,
graphics, and more – for what's billed as a found footage-style mashup
of Battlestar Galactica and Ten Things I Hate About You, Illuminae is
the story of of a young hacker and her fighter pilot ex-boyfriend who
must uncover the truth about the deadly plague ravaging their fleet, the
AI that should be protecting them, and the powers that be who may or
may not be lying about everything.

What I loved about this story...What I loved the most about this book was the characters and their progression throughout the book. You have Kate who wants to travelling above anything else, including her long term boyfriend. You have Ed who likes stability and has his own set of issues to deal with as the story goes on. You have Emma who wants to be an actress and we see her giving that a go and then you have his fiance Jack who is struggling to keep in check his jealousy amongst other things. I liked the fact that even though I was not able to read this book in one go, whenever I did pick up the book again the characters were rememberable.What I was not fond of with this story...This is a personal preference point, I was not fond of some of the decisions that some of the characters made. For instance Emma wanting to go and travel and seeming to seemingly forget about her long term boyfriend the minute she is away and at various points throughout but that may have been the point of the story. That being said, I did enjoy the writing style and will definately be looking into more books by this author.

Our world was perfect––until we broke the rule: Don't go out at night.

Utopia
by day, Dystopia by night; this is the world I recently discovered. I
now struggle with the fact that our whole society has been based on a
lie. There's only one way to change it––conquer the darkness we've all
been raised to fear.

Live the lie; fight to the death; become a Handler. It's the only way.

18 Dec 2014

The author of the Sunday
Times bestselling Take a Look at Me Now, returns to New York with her
most heart-warming, romantic story yet.Have you ever given up on love?When
her boyfriend lets her down for the last time, Brooklyn bookshop owner
Bea James makes a decision – no more. No more men, no more heartbreak,
and no more pain.Psychiatrist Jake Steinmann is making a new
start too, leaving his broken marriage behind in San Francisco. From
now on there'll just be one love in his life: New York.At a
party where they seem to be the only two singletons, Bea and Jake meet,
and decide there’s just one thing for it. They will make a pact: no more
relationships.But the city has other plans . . .

What I loved about this story...EVERYTHING!!! Words cannot truly describe how much I loved this book. Miranda Dickinson is now firmly placed in my list of authors I love. Although this book was 495 pages long, I read this in one sitting (albeit a few bathroom breaks in between and a very awkward lunch 'break' whilst reading!). You have two main characters in this story - Bea James who has broken up with her boyfriend of five years and Jake Steinmann who has split from his wife of ten years and is having to move back to his home, New York, to forget about her. Both characters meet at an engagement party held for some friends and make a pact that there will be no more relationships. As the spend more time together as friends, maybe magic might happen in the end. With a few twists and turns in both of their paths, I enjoyed following their story right until the very last page.

If there is one book you read at Christmas, make it this one. You won't forget it!

For readers of Cassandra Clare's City of Bones and Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone, The Girl at Midnight is the story of a modern girl caught in an ancient war.

Beneath
the streets of New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of people
with feathers for hair and magic running through their veins. Age-old
enchantments keep them hidden from humans. All but one. Echo is a
runaway pickpocket who survives by selling stolen treasures on the black
market, and the Avicen are the only family she's ever known.

Echo
is clever and daring, and at times she can be brash, but above all else
she's fiercely loyal. So when a centuries-old war crests on the borders
of her home, she decides it's time to act.

Legend has it that
there is a way to end the conflict once and for all: find the Firebird, a
mythical entity believed to possess power the likes of which the world
has never seen. It will be no easy task, but if life as a thief has
taught Echo anything, it's how to hunt down what she wants . . . and how
to take it.

But some jobs aren't as straightforward as they seem. And this one might just set the world on fire.

10 Dec 2014

Discover an
unforgettable holiday treasure in Sheila Roberts’ heartwarming tale of
love and laughter, magic and miracles, friendship and coming home… On
a blustery afternoon, Kylie Gray wanders into an antique shop and buys
an enchanting snow globe. “There’s a story behind that snow globe,” the
antique dealer tells her. The original owner, he explains, was a
German toymaker who lost his wife and son right before Christmas. When
the grieving widower received the handcrafted snow globe as a Christmas
gift, he saw the image of a beautiful woman beneath the glass—a woman
who would come into his life, mend his broken heart and bring him back
to the world of the living. For years, the snow globe has passed from
generation to generation, somehow always landing in the hands of a
person in special need of a Christmas miracle.

Kiley could use a
miracle herself. This year, all she wants for Christmas is someone to
love. A hopeful shake leads her on an adventure that makes a believer
out of her. When Kylie shares the story of the snow globe with her best
friends—two women with problems of their own—they don’t believe it. But
they’re about to discover that at Christmastime, sometimes the
impossible becomes possible and miracles really do come true.

What I loved about this story...I really enjoyed this story. Just the thought that you had a magical snow globe that helped people discover their true desires and hopefully try to make it come true. This was a short read but enjoyed it immensely. What I liked the most was the fact that this story concentrated on three characters, one being Kylie who finds the snow globe in an antiques place and follows their journeys as they each 'take their turn' having the snow globe. This is such an inspirational read, making me want to believe that every miracle can come true this Christmas if you believe...What I was not fond of with this story...This is probably going to be same comment with all three of these books but unfortunately, for me, the characters were not rememberable. I was reading this book in two chunks in one day, once in the morning and once in the evening and I did find that when it came to sit down to read in the evening, I could not remember much about the characters. But that being said, this is a really great story and I enjoyed reading it.

Two people are about to discover that when it comes to finding
love, sometimes Christmas magic isn’t enough…sometimes it takes a pesky
orange cat named Ambrose.When a guy is in trouble, he starts making deals with his
Creator…and Ambrose the cat is no exception. In danger of losing his
ninth and final life, Ambrose makes a desperate plea to the universe.
He’ll do anything—anything!—if he can just survive and enjoy a nice
long, final life. His prayer is answered when a stranger comes along and
saves him—and now it looks like he has to hold up his end of the
bargain.

The stranger turns out to be a firefighter named
Zach, who’s in need of some serious romantic help. If Ambrose can just
bring Zach together with Merilee, the nice lady who works at Pet Palace,
it’s bound to earn him a healthy ninth life. Unfortunately for
Ambrose, his mission is a lot harder than he ever thought. Merriliee is
way too shy to make the first move on a ladies man like Zach, and Zach
thinks he’s all wrong for a nice girl like Merrilee. Now it’s going to
take all of Ambrose’s feline wiles—and maybe even a good old fashioned
Christmas miracle—to make them both realize that what they’re looking
for is right in front of their eyes.

What I loved about this story...This was such a great quirky story I could not stop myself from smiling most of the way through this one. Some of the story is told from the perspective of Zach who finds himself taking in a stray cat, Ambrose. However, some of the story is told from the perspective of Ambrose the stray cat. Ambrose was saved from being eaten by an angry dog and Zach saves him. Ambrose makes a deal with his creator that as he is nearly at the end of his nine lives he has to make a difference. He decides that Zach is the person he needs to make a difference to. Having made himself at home in Zach's house, we see him plot to try and get rid of Zach's nasty girlfrield and try and set him up with someone else. I really enjoyed following the story from this perspective and made me smile a lot. What I was not fond of with this story...As with the book above, I read this book also in two chunks and the problem I had with not remembering characters was the same with this book. It might have been my frame of mind at the time of reading but when sitting down to read the second half of this book I did struggle with remembering the characters (except Ambrose of course!).

At Christmas time, it
seems as though a woman's work is never done. Trimming the tree, mailing
the cards, schlepping to the mall, the endless wrapping - bah humbug!
So this year, Joy and Laura and the rest of their knitting group decide
to go on strike. If their husbands and families want a nice holiday
filled with parties, decorations, and presents - well, they'll just have
to do it themselves.

The boycott soon takes on a life of its own
when a reporter picks up the story and more women join in. But as
Christmas Day approaches, Joy, Laura, and their husbands confront larger
issues in their marriages and discover that a little holiday magic is
exactly what they need to come together.

What I loved about this story...This was a good read. Although this book is my least favourite of the three I liked the message this book was giving. That people should not take their other half's or families for granted, especially throughout the Christmas period. One person should not be shouldering all the responsibilty for Christmas events as it is one of the biggest events for families in the year. This book did a good job and putting the message across that people should work together at times like this, which makes for a happier Christmas. What I was not fond of with this story...Although this story was enjoyableto read, this was the one that I liked the least out of the three. Aside from the fact that I had the same problem above with the not remembering characters when I picked this up a second and third time, I found that the amount of characters and different scenarios happening in this book I did find it hard to keep up with what was happening with each family and have to admit that I did get a bit confused near the end.

It’s been a year since
Seth made the deal with the gods that pledged his life to them. And so
far, the jobs they’ve given him have been violent and bloody – which is
kind of all right with him. But now Apollo has something else in mind
for Seth. He’s got to play protector while keeping his hands and
fingers off, and for someone who really has a problem with restraint,
this new assignment might be the most challenging yet.

Josie
has no idea what this crazy hot guy’s deal might be, but it’s a good bet
that his arrival means the new life she started after leaving home is
about to be thrown into an Olympian-sized blender turned up to “puree”.
Either Josie is going insane or a nightmare straight out of an ancient
myth is gunning for her.

But it might be the unlikely attraction
simmering between her and the golden-eyed, secret-keeping Seth that may
prove to be the most dangerous thing of all.

8 Dec 2014

No one knows when, or even if, the
long-abandoned planet will be habitable again.

But faced with dwindling
resources and a growing populace, government leaders know they must
reclaim their homeland... before it's too late.

Now, one hundred
juvenile delinquents are being sent on a high-stakes mission to
recolonize Earth. After a brutal crash landing, the teens arrive on a
savagely beautiful planet they've only seen from space.

Confronting the
dangers of this rugged new world, they struggle to form a tentative
community. But they're haunted by their past and uncertain about the
future. To survive, they must learn to trust - and even love - again.

What I loved about this story...I really loved the idea of this story. Something horrible happened on Earth forcing humans to live in a spaceship in space. Obviously, there is only so long that you can live in space without running out of supplies etc so it was interesting to see how they dealt with that situation. They send juvenile delinquents (people who are 18 or just coming up to their 18th birthday) where they would normally be convicted when they legally become an adult they get a chance to escape from that.

There were a few characters in this story but the way the author has written the chapters to shift from different characters' perspectives made it really easy to get to know each of them and find out about them. There are also really helpful flashbacks into certain character's pasts to find out more about how they got to where they are now. With the way this book finished, I am definitely intrigued to find out what happens next...

What I was not fond of with this story... Although this book does a great job with introducing characters and their surroundings, I didn't really connect with any of them and that did affect how I read this book. It could be a number of factors that caused it and maybe it might have been my particular frame of mind when reading this book but I wished I had connected. That being said, I am definitely looking forward to finding out what happens next and will be checking that out...

About the Author(from Goodreads)

Kass Morgan
studied literature at Brown and Oxford, and now resides in Brooklyn,
where she lives in constant fear of her Ikea bookcase collapsing and
burying her under a mound of science fiction and Victorian novels. Kass
is currently working on the sequel to The 100, which she’ll finish as
soon as she finds a coffee shop that allows laptops on the weekend.

7 Dec 2014

Many generations ago, a
mysterious cataclysm struck the world. Governments collapsed and people
scattered, to rebuild where they could. A mutation, "the Change,”
arose, granting some people unique powers. Though the area once called
Los Angeles retains its cultural diversity, its technological marvels
have faded into legend. "Las Anclas" now resembles a Wild West frontier
town… where the Sheriff possesses superhuman strength, the doctor can
warp time to heal his patients, and the distant ruins of an ancient city
bristle with deadly crystalline trees that take their jewel-like colors
from the clothes of the people they killed.

Teenage prospector
Ross Juarez’s best find ever – an ancient book he doesn’t know how to
read – nearly costs him his life when a bounty hunter is set on him to
kill him and steal the book. Ross barely makes it to Las Anclas,
bringing with him a precious artifact, a power no one has ever had
before, and a whole lot of trouble.

1. If you could work
with any other author, who would it be and why?

Collaboration isn't only a matter of who you most admire as
an author; it's also about who you enjoy working with, and if you can get your
working styles to mesh. Both Sherwood and I have successfully collaborated with
others, but have also had unsuccessful collaborations with people whom we
liked, but couldn't manage to find a working style that was good for both of
us.

So I have no idea who else I'd enjoy working with. I
couldn't know until I tried.

2. What would be a
typical working day for you? When and where do you write?

Sherwood and I develop the story together, then literally
sit down at the computer and type together, alternately speaking the dialogue,
like an improvised play. We usually work at her house, or at a writing retreat.
We enjoy visiting author Judith Tarr's horse ranch, riding and writing. It's a
wonderful retreat.

I also write solo. I am currently in the middle of the third
book of my "Werewolf Marines" series, which is urban fantasy for
adults written under the pen name Lia Silver. I write that at home and on my
lunch breaks at work. (I'm a PTSD therapist.)

3. What is the
hardest part of the writing for you?

Beginnings, when I don't have the voices and tone down yet,
and early middles, when I am convinced that it's all terrible.

4. When and why did
you first start writing?

At age seven, I wrote my first "novel" in a
notebook. It was the lightly fictionalized adventures of my actual pet rat,
Ratsy, and was called "The Adventures of Ratsy." (There are cute
mutant rats in Stranger; I like rats. They are so smart and fuzzy!)

5. How did you come
up with the idea for your book?

Sherwood and I wanted to write a fun adventure story for
everyone who normally gets left out of the fun books - for the readers who
aren't normally seen as heroes, because they're racial or ethnic or religious
or sexual or gender minorities. It probably originally comes from me being a
little Jewish girl who wanted to read books about girls being heroes, and
stories about Jews having adventures rather than facing anti-Semitism.

6. Are you a big
reader? If so, what are you reading now?

I read constantly! Right now I'm in the middle of a
wonderful book called Santa Olivia, by Jacqueline Carey. It's about a
genetically engineered lesbian boxer after the apocalypse, and it's terrific -
fun and juicy and completely engrossing.

7. Do you have any
advice for other aspiring writers?

Don't give up. There's someone out there who really wants to
hear the stories you have to tell.

What I loved about this story...I liked the premise of this story. You have a college/school based story with lots of secrets and adventure. I really enjoyed learning more about each of the characters and finding out a little bit about them (although not too much was given away in this book). What I was not fond of with this story...Unfortunately, there is a bit more to put in this section than the section above that I would have wished I could write more about. First off I am just going to mention that when I had finished reading this book and went to look up about the next book in the series, I discovered that not only was this book 2 in a series but that it is a translation so it made it more difficult to figure out on Goodreads what the series was and what was book 1/2 etc.... The other thing I was a bit disappointed with is that in the description it mentions secrets of missing students and answers that can be found on Mount Ghost. More than three quarters of the book were about the students at the College and travelling up to Mount Ghost. The bit that I was more excited about when starting this book was finding out what would happen when they got up to Mount Ghost. Yes there were a few things that happened and you did find out something major but I felt it was very rushed and would have loved that part to be a bigger part of the story.

Children can have a
cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel
quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe
they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can
believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for.

Hazel lives
with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and
fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts
tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how
to stop them. Or she did, once.

At the center of it all, there is
a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it
sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel
and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there
for generations, never waking.

Until one day, he does…

As
the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years
pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties,
and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?

29 Nov 2014

A hooker. A mistress. A murder. This town was built on sin.The
town of Trinidad, Colorado was a tough place to be a woman in 1913. But
it was the best place in the West to find one, if you had the cash.

Honeyville, they used to call it.

A
murder throws Inez and Dora together – two women from opposite sides of
town, in a town built for men. Against all odds, the well born girl and
the high class hooker are drawn together in friendship…

But this
is a town that is rotten to the core, and beyond the rustling of silk
skirts, the dancing and laughter, deadly unrest is building…

Welcome to Honeyville – a town living by its own rules, where nothing is quite as it seems

My ReviewWhat I loved about this story...I just love it when you try a new book from a new author to you and absolutely love it! This was definitely one of those for me. I am not sure how much of this story is based on historical fact but I just loved the way that the author managed to pull me into this worldand not let me go until the very last page. I have to say that there was no one particular character that really stood out in this story, they were all equally interesting to follow. For me, this was more about the story and what was happening in the town of Trinidad n 1913. You definitely got a feel for the era, particularly how man and women were treated differently.

What I also loved about this story is the fact that it kept me thinking for a very long time afterwards, especially when it comes to the divide between men and women and what they could and could not do when there's trouble in the neighbourhood.

About the Author

(from Author website)

Daisy Waugh is a novelist, columnist and journalist. She has published seven novels and a travel book, A Small Town In Africa, about her time working as a teacher in Northern Kenya. She has worked as an Agony Aunt, a restaurant critic, a property reviewer, and a general lifestyle columnist for many years – most recently for the Sunday Times. She writes a monthly column for the magazine Standpoint, and has worked for radio and TV.

Her last two novels, Last Dance With Valentino and Melting the Snow on Hester Street are set in silent era Hollywood and so is the novel she is currently working on. She has also written a non-fiction book (to be published in June 2013) about the absurdities and indignities of modern motherhood, called I Don’t Know Why She Bothers (Guilt Free Motherhood For Thoroughly Modern Women).

She lives in London with her film producer husband and her three children.

When
hunky Brody Hunter moved next door, Kyla Richards knew that her quiet
dreamer life was going to change. Only she never imagined just how much.
Brody Hunter was the sort of guy that girls had posters of on their
walls. Only Kyla sensed that there were hidden depths to his beautiful
surface; depths that she would give anything to explore.

25 Nov 2014

We’re
not talking about rooms that are just full of books. We’re talking
about bookshops in barns, disused factories, converted churches and
underground car parks. Bookshops on boats, on buses, and in old run-down
train stations. Fold-out bookshops, undercover bookshops,
this-is-the-best-place-I’ve-ever-been-to-bookshops.

Meet Sarah
and her Book Barge sailing across the sea to France; meet Sebastien, in
Mongolia, who sells books to herders of the Altai mountains; meet the
bookshop in Canada that’s invented the world’s first antiquarian book
vending machine.

And that’s just the beginning.

From the
oldest bookshop in the world, to the smallest you could imagine, The
Bookshop Book examines the history of books, talks to authors about
their favourite places, and looks at over three hundred weirdly
wonderful bookshops across six continents (sadly, we’ve yet to build a
bookshop down in the South Pole).

What I loved about this book...Ask any book lover and they will tell you that there's nothing better than reading a book about books. That's the ultimate reading experience. This book took me on the ultimate book shopping experience from my own living room (and without buying any books which was the sad part lol!). This book has introduced me to so many interesting book shops that I have definitely added to my list of 'places I want to visit'.

What I also liked about this book is that you had interviews with authors such as Tracy Chevalier etc talking about their book experiences. Its probably the equivalent of someone who is an organiser reading a lifestyle magazine just to see the pictures of people's living rooms to see how they decorate etc...This book was so good I read it in one sitting, could not put it down... There were so many places that I had to Google to find out more after I had read the book, it's definitely addicting.

About the Author(from Goodreads)

Jen grew up
in a small village by the sea in the north-east of England. After
studying English Literature at Edinburgh University, she moved to north
London to sell books and write stories. She works part-time at an
antiquarian bookshop.

Jen's first book, Weird Things Customers
Say in Bookshops, was published in 2012 and was a Sunday Times
Bestseller. The sequel, More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops,
was released in 2013. 'Weird Things...' is available in seven different
languages, and was a finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards.

Her
new non-fiction book The Bookshop Book was published October 2014 by
Constable/Little, Brown, and is the official book of the 2014 Books Are
My Bag campaign. www.jen-campbell.co.uk/the-bookshop-book

Jen
is also an award-winning poet and short story writer. Her poetry
pamphlet The Hungry Ghost Festival is published by The Rialto., and she
is currently writing her first novel.

24 Nov 2014

Annabel
Buchanan has it all. A privileged life. Pots of cash. Looks and manners
born of generations of fabulous breeding. At least, that's what she
likes people to think. But Annabel's carefully created image is about to
come crashing down.

With her beloved daughter Izzy in need of a
kidney transplant, Annabel is desperate to find a suitable donor. That's
how she comes to admit that before Annabel Buchanan there was Daisy
Benson, given up for adoption by her teenage mum and dad.

Hoping
her biological family will be able to help, Annabel traces the Bensons
and is horrified by the embarrassing, chavvy bunch she discovers.
They're definitely not her kind of people. And she is equally baffling
to them.

But as Christmas approaches and Izzy's situation brings
the Benson and the Buchanan families closer, will Annabel discover at
last that blood is thicker than water?

What I loved about this story...I really enjoyed the fact that you had two completely separate families; one 'well off' family who acted very posh and quite snobby like and one family who are more 'down to earth' and quite opinionated and loud. Following both of these families when their worlds collide was very entertaining. The two characters that I liked the most were Izzy and Sarah who strike up a friendship through all the rivalry and fighting between the families. Another two characters that I found particularly funny was Jack and his grandfather. Jack is a young boy and the grandfather is much older (obviously!) and is suffering from Alzheimer's. When these two get together, the results are really quite funny, particularly how much fun they have.

What I was not fond of with this story... If I was completely honest, I was a bit disappointed by the ending. I won't spoil the story for you here but the conclusion to something that happens throughout this story was not the one I was expecting.

About the Author

Encouraged my
by English teacher, Mrs. Pocock, I published my first short story in
Just Seventeen when I was fourteen years old. The story was called
‘Whatever happened to the wonderful boy I fell in love with’ and I
published it under the pseudonym ‘Carolyn Lane’ because it largely
consisted of a transcript of an argument I’d had with my boyfriend. I
bought a black denim jacket from C & A with the proceeds.

I
continued to contribute short stories to Just Seventeen to help pay my
way through university. I studied Experimental Psychology at St Edmund
Hall in Oxford. Alas, I devoted rather too much time to my social life
and staggered away with an unimpressive 2:2. In retrospect, that 2:2
saved my life. It meant that none of the graduate training schemes I
had hoped to join would have me. I wouldn’t become an accountant after
all. I moved to London and took a series of temp jobs to support
myself. It was while I was working at Prelude Audio Books, a company
which took erotic ‘classics’ and put them on tape, that I met my first
real novelist: David Garnett.

David is a very well respected
science fiction writer, who once dabbled with writing erotica under the
name Angelique. Prelude was recording the Angelique novels. One
afternoon, David spent a couple of hours sitting on my desk, waiting for
my boss to come back from a very long publishing lunch to discuss some
unpaid royalties. I told David I’d always wanted to be a writer. He
dared me to write a novella like Angelique’s. A few weeks later, I
handed him my first full-length manuscript. David cast his experienced
eye over my scribblings, helped me tweak it and then passed it on to his
editor at Little Brown. Incredibly, she made an offer on it. My dream
of becoming a proper writer was reborn.

That first book was
called ‘Inspiration’. It centred on the sexual shenanigans of a group
of artists in St Ives. Wary of embarrassing my parents, I published
‘Inspiration’ as Stephanie Ash. Four more Stephanie Ash novellas
followed, helping me to pay my rent and attract the attention of a
literary agent. In 1997, I published my first Chris Manby novel,
‘Flatmates’…

Thirteen novels on the single life as Chris Manby
later, I’ve just published ‘Getting Over Mr. Right’ as ‘Chrissie Manby’
(apparently too many people are under the impression that I am a
bloke!).

23 Nov 2014

1955. An unstoppable sea and an immovable tower hold the key to several lives, past, present, and future.

Approaching middle-age and desperately lonely, Lighthouse Keeper Curl Hoyer is pining to find a wife, the unique partner just right for him.

When alluring photo-journalist Henne arrives to do a story on him and the romantic coastal facility, his prayer seems answered at last. Seductive and intriguing, she soon makes him fall in love with her — all according to plan.

What is that plan?

At first blush, it appears nothing more than a desire to corral a man of unusual character: a rare blend of passion, curiosity, and tenderness. Soon, it’s revealed to be a demonic scheme for revenge, payback for wounds festering since adolescence.

Why? What is the mysterious connection between the pair reaching back 20 years? And can Curl uncover the plan in time to save himself and the vital lighthouse?

A haunting seaside tower brings them together again for one final showdown.

“The Lighthouse Pylon is dramatic suspense harkening back to the golden age of Gothic romance, when a shoreline structure could be as menacing as the villain. Jeffrey Perren’s latest is surely his finest novel yet, with a twist at the end we challenge any reader to guess!” - ClioStory Publishing

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeffrey Perren wrote his first short story at age 12 and went on to win the Bank of America Fine Arts award at age 17. Since then he has published at award-winning sites and magazines from the U.S. to New Zealand.His debut novel was "Cossacks In Paris," an historical adventure set in Napoleonic Europe, inspired by a real soldier of the Battle of Paris in 1814. His second, “Death is Overrated,” a romantic mystery, is the story of a scientist who must prove he didn't kill himself. His third is “Clonmac's Bridge,” an archaeological thriller and historical mystery set in contemporary and 9th century Ireland. “The Lighthouse Pylon,” a novel of romantic suspense is expected to be published on December, 2014.He was born in Independence, MO right around the corner from Harry Truman's house. But then, at the time, everything there was right around the corner from Harry Truman's house. He now lives in Sandpoint, Idaho with his wife, an economist.

20 Nov 2014

Help your little ones
recognize the joy, responsibility, and importance of being baptized.

"I
Want to Be Baptized"—from the same author and illustrator who brought
you "The Holy Ghost Is like a Blanket"—depicts what baptism really means
for children’s lives by comparing it to objects they remember and
relate to.

Turn to these heartwarming illustrations and meaningful
analogies next time a child asks you about baptism.

1.
If you could work with any other author, who would it be and why?
There are plenty of authors I admire. Bob Staake, David L. Harrison,
Julianne Donaldson, Kelly Milner Halls, and Merrilee Boyack to name a
few. I think collaborating with Josi S. Kilpack on a children's
mystery book would be fun -- cooking up something yummy in the
process would be a special treat. And definitely Sheri Fink -- her
whimsical world is something I'd love to be part of one day. My
daughter loves her books which encourage and empower children to do
good and be good. Also, when it comes to children's books, the
illustrator has a big role. Corey Egbert was my pick for "The
Holy Ghost is Like a Blanket" and it was only natural for him to
illustrate "I Want to Be Baptized" And yet with a new
children's storybook in my head, I've been conjuring a new style
which has allowed me to venture into the art world again -- David
Habben is currently a new favorite artist.

2.
What would be a typical working day for you? When and where do you
write?
The family is up by 6am and we're out the door to school and work by
7:30am (if I haven't forgotten to feed them or read the scriptures –
it’s a good start). At 5pm we're back home together for dinner,
family prayer, and bedtime routines (which may or may not include
eating dessert first). By 8pm the kids are tucked into bed, and
that's when the real day begins -- the reading & writing routine.
First, I write in my journal (it’s my data dump). Then, I edit the
previous days’ work (the clean, clear & concise method) and
press forward with new work. I alternate days between writing
children's books and other genres. But at pumpkin time, I go to sleep
(as in, I need my beauty rest & that starts at 10pm). I write in
journals, on magazines, and in Google Drive. My favorite is still
composition notebooks though.

3.
What is the hardest part of the writing for you? Knowing
when to submit the work to a publisher is the hardest part for me.
Polishing work can take an eternity, but it’s important to remember
that no amount of refining or editing will help if it doesn't meet
the publisher's needs at that time. At some point, I realize that
I've addressed all the major issues and the publisher needs to decide
what happens next. Then, it just takes a lot of courage to find the
right publisher -- weeding through the rejection until you sprout up
and find the publisher that will help your book blossom. For these
children’s books, it was Cedar Fort Inc. [Thanks to an intro by my
friend, Merrilee Boyack].

4.
When and why did you first start writing?
I daydream. I write snail mail. I write short stories. I write
poetry. I write more. I read. And I write again. My 8th birthday,
with a children's illustrated dictionary and an "About Me"
journal, launched me into the writing world. Words and stories have
filled my mind ever since and I continue to see the world for what I
imagine it should be not necessarily what it is. My friend, Julianne
Donaldson, author of "Edenbrooke" and "Blackmoore"
suggested I submit one of my true stories to the Friend magazine. I
did and it was published in Sept 2010 - "Garbage Can Graffiti".
It was an exciting event that propelled me to continue
writing and submitting to publishers my fiction and non-fiction
works.

5.
How did you come up with the idea for your book? "I
Want to Be Baptized" is the prequel to "The Holy Ghost is
Like a Blanket" and both are the result of a parent's need to
teach their young children about Gospel principles and ordinances. It
took a lot of prayer and patience to decide what are the main goals
were - what do children need to know and feel while reading the book
- and I'm grateful these LDS Non-fiction children's books came
together so well.

6.
Are you a big reader? If so, what are you reading now?
Yes, reading books is a huge part of perfecting the storytelling
craft and I read multiple styles (YA, Picture Books, Love Inspired,
Comics…) at the same time. I just finished "The Fault in Our
Stars" by John Green. My nightstand currently has the series of
Latter-day tales by Rebecca H. Jamison, "Green Eggs and Ham"
by Dr. Suess, "Math Curse" by Jon Scieszka, "Bluebird"
(wordless) by Bob Staake, and "The Rancher and the
Schoolteacher" by Judith Bowen. [You can see my 'shelfie' pic
@helpfulannalisa with many of my favorite children's books.]

7.
Do you have any advice for other aspiring writers? (A)
Write and write and write, (B) Join the national book / writers’
club for your genre(s) and be a member of the corresponding local
chapters [i.e. SCBWI ], and (C) Please your readers [meet their
expectations] -- give them a great story.